Between the nights of April 8th (Tarifa) and July 28th (Nordkapp), I was on the road for 111 days; 96 cycling days and 15 rest days. I stayed in at least 66 campsitesย for one or occasionally two nights. If you remember, I tried to post a picture via […]
Finally, here it is; the complete list of posts from this summer’s cycle from Tarifa to Nordkapp. In the reorganised framework of CyclingEurope.org you can find it under the ‘European Routes’ menu (Eurovelo 1) above and the listings for the individual countries can also be found in the […]
I did promise to write one of the reviews after each country (here’s the one about Spain) but I am only now sitting down to write the review about cycling in France. As before, it may make more sense if you go back and read the post I […]
Press release: 5 COUNTRIES – 10 DAYS – 1315 KILOMETRES – ยฃ3600 RAISED FOR CHARITY Earlier this year we told you about a group of young men from Wirral who were planning to undertake an epic and unsupported bike ride from London to Berlin to raise funds […]
Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle. Tonight has been chuffing cold! I have now crawled into the tent at the campsite a few kilometres south of Maastricht wearing four upper layers of clothing, a beanie on my head and a Buff around my neck. […]
Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle. Kevin Mayne and his wife Cheryl have been great hosts. Not only did Kevin make the effort to come and ‘collect’ me on Friday afternoon after I cycled over the border into Belgium from France but they wined […]
It seems appropriate on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest to visit the site of the Battle of Waterloo. Let’s face it, it’s a field, but what is more interesting – very interesting – is the brand new and excellent visitor centre built underground, the round panoramic […]
Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle. A little delayed, here’s the write up… I set out all my bits and pieces of paper on the an outside table of a cafรฉ in central Maubeuge to sort out what could to be sent back to […]
Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle. It was a late finish today – back in Maubeuge! – so I’ll write the prose tomorrow or later tonight. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures… I’m back! It’s now Friday morning and I’m sitting outside the Cafรฉ […]
Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle. Don’t worry; until earlier this afternoon I’d never head of Seraucourt-le-Grand myself. It’s not too far from Saint-Quentin (and don’t worry, even French teachers like me pronounce it that way as well!) More of my destination in a […]
Click here to see the detailed statistics of today’s cycle. Not long before I get to the French border and today’s modest 50 km nudged me a little closer. The destination was chosen because it has a campsite where I arrived in the early afternoon amid the noise […]
Tomorrow morning, Tuesday 7th April, it’s a relatively short ride to Gibraltar and a final night of luxury in a hotel. On Wednesday it’s an even shorter ride to Tarifa and a campsite just to the west of Europe’s most southerly mainland point. Then on Thursday 9th I […]
If you hadn’t noticed, I’ve posted these country-specific commentaries about the upcoming Eurovelo 1/3 trip from southern Spain to northern Norway: Cycling in Spain Cycling in France Cycling in Belgium Cycling in Germany Cycling in Denmark Cycling in Sweden Cycling in Norway
Under two weeks now until departure and I’m finally beginning to piece things together in a serious way. The flight is purchased and the Spanish course booked but you already know that as you have read this, no? Yesterday I spent the day in Leeds in search of […]
So finally, after Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and France… I arrive at the beginning (if that makes sense), in Spain. If you remember, my posts about cycling through each of the countries of the Eurovelo 1/3 route that I will be following later in the year were […]
So, after Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium I arrive in France on my pre-Eurovelo 1/3 quest to have put at the very least a bit of thought into the planning of the route. Only one country to go – Spain – which will be the first of […]
This post from Kevin Mayne of the ECF is very well timed in light of my own post at the weekend which looked forward to ‘Cycling in Belgium‘… Over to you Kevin!
My journey across the continent continues… I have already posted planning notes on cycling through Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Here are my planning notes for Belgium after which only France and Spain need to be considered before I set off from Tarifa in Spain shortly after Easter. […]
While maps are on my mind (see previous post)… I have a newly discovered love forย Marco Polo maps. But before I get on to them, let’s back track a little. I can’t imagine there will ever be a day when I ditch paper maps altogether; when I cycled […]
I was managing to write one of these country commentaries at the rate of one per weekend earlier in December but I’ve had a break for a few weeks over Christmas. Remember that they are not a complete overview of cycling in the particular country through which I […]
I have arrived at country number three – in a reverse sense – after previously writing about Cycling In Norway and Cycling In Sweden. Denmark will, of course, be country number five after Spain, France, Belgium and Germany but in my quest not to neglect the latter part […]
I thought that the cycle from Reading to London to catch my train from Euston station would be a bit of a formality. Anything but… I have now come to the conclusion that National Cycle Network route 4 or rather the bit between Windsor and Richmond Park, is […]
Here are three guys who cycled along a similar route to me but from London Barcelona taking in large chunks of my 2010 journey from England to Italy and then my 2013 across southern France and into Spain. I wrote books about my adventures; these chaps have made […]
Here is the second in a series of extracts from the soon-to-be-published book ‘Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie‘. If you haven’t done so already, you may want to read extract 1 (which was all about cycling day 11 in Albania) by following this link. Tuesday […]
If proof were needed (and can I say that it isn’t) that this was just one long mad dash from A (the Temple of Poseidon in Greece) to B (Cape St. Vincent in Portugal) then today was that evidence. Which isn’t needed. [Get on with it, please…] I […]
I can highly recommend this type of holiday if you want to delve into the variety of accommodation on offer within Europe. Last night I was having a shower in a wet room and then donning a white bath robe in a boutique hotel in was of Europe’s […]
I was emailed yesterday by a guy in America called Angelo who is planning his own cycle tour of Europe. He had read Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie and suggested that I might be interested in another book that predates my own by getting on for […]
If you are a reader of Cycling Active magazine and have an ability to spot detail amongst all the bike-related info., you may have noticed a mention of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie in the July edition of the magazine that came out last […]
When I cycled the Eurovelo 5 to Italy, all my maps were Michelin 1:200,000 scale maps and there were ten of them in total – see the overview map of Europe here (I didn’t take the Belgian ones by the way as I cut off Belgium from my […]
Keep an eye on this; hopefully it will develop as the months go by… Update: A press release from the European Cyclists’ Federation reads as follows: “March 4, 2013 – Brussels, Belgium The European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) has launched its cycling touring web platform,www.eurovelo.com, which provides a wealth […]
Here’s an urgent message from the European Cyclists’ Federation (the ECF) which I support whole-heartedly!ย “There are 35 million daily cyclists in Europe. There are more than 100 million Europeans who cycle regularly. Yet the European Institutions are failing to take cycling seriously as a mode of Transport. […]
Wednesday 8th August Rest in Munich “In the morning Andi wrote down some things I should check out in the city. I decided to head to Englisher Gardens, the largest city park. The river that runs through it, flows with such force that under one bridge people are […]
Saturday 28th July Rest in Basel “I was hesitant to leave France. Firstly I would miss it. France had been an amazing experience and as much as I wanted to enter a new country, I felt there was also more of France that needed to be explored. The […]
My weekend is visitor free! I make it sound as though I have people staying here all the time; this is not the case and it was great to see Matt, Ross & Pirrko but it did make for a non-stop weekend, my visitors departure and arrival sandwiched […]
An email has arrived from Jack who fancies cycling around Europe… He writes in blue, I write in red. Well, I am a teacher, albeit one with a sniffly nose today. And on the day that Francois Hollande becomes the French president, it does give this post a […]
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about how the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) had revamped its websites – http://www.ecf.com, the Eurovelo ‘planning’ website http://www.eurovelo.org & http://www.eurovelo.com, aimed at punters like you and me. Now this latter website has yet to get off the ground (I remain hopeful), […]
The following email arrived earlier today and the first line comes straight from a pitch on Dragons’ Den; Hi Andrew, You don’t know us but we are a new company that will focus on eccentric races and charity events, we are planning a 2600km bike ride across Europe […]
Sounds like a new surrealist film? No, just a round-up of the topics that have fallen into my inbox this week. Read on to find out more… I was wondering what crossing the alps was like?ย writes Henry Ulmann… Excellent! If you follow the Eurovelo 5 / Swiss National […]
My pan-European cycle continues to generate a fair bit of interest. Andrew from Leicestershire writes; A friend and myself are planning to cycle from Rome to home (Leicestershire) next year for the Loros charity. I was wondering if you could send me the exact route you took (plus […]
Bill Bryson would love this place! It’s the kind of museum he writes about so well in his travelogues. I’ll try to emulate his style… I mentioned the Maginot Line a few days ago when I was on the Franco-Belgian border. Maginot was the French minister of war […]
….before my eyes shut while typing the previous post last night. Much of yesterday’s route was dotted with remnants from the Second World War; lots of pillar boxes and a couple of monuments. The number of names of American soldiers who were either killed or lost in action […]
Just coming back into France after another, much more rewarding (and well surfaced) excursion into Belgium. This border post is still standing; today empty and the benefits to all are clear. But there is something adventurous about border crossings, the fact perhaps that you may not be let […]
Just look at how blue it is and how fluffy the clouds are…. The town itself is less beautiful although my hotel – the building on the photo – has the same interior designer as the boudoirs at the Moulin Rouge. The story of the day? Here goes… […]
Laura Birchenoughย has just returned home from a cycle ride that took in the last part of the Eurovelo 5 – she stayed with Massimo Mazzone in Benevento – and then most of eastern / central Europe back to the UK. It seems to be the done thing to […]
We are currently going through a mini heat-wave here in south-east England (confirmed by the fact that earlier this week the first hose-pipe ban was announced…). Temperatures are predicted to soar to around 30 degrees today (in the shade). I cast my mind back to a similar sun-drenched […]
I posted yesterday that I was thinking of removing part of the route and avoiding Brussels and most of Belgium. It does make sense on all levels apart from the one that wants me to tick the box of having followed the route of the Eurovelo 5. George […]
I’ve discussed much on here recently; Mark Beaumont, butterfly handlebars, commuting, Twitter, Geoff Boycott(!)… but not much of Eurovelo 5 and my plans to cycle from Reading to Brindisi kicking off on Sunday 18th July, a little over two-months away. So here is a summary of progress I’m […]
Well so far, my aim to make Good Friday “Bloody Marvelous Friday” is going to plan. I’ve picked up the bike from AW Cycles and they have, as promised, changed the handlebars for a set that are much wider and have far more space to place my hands […]
This is a comical tale from the late 1930s, but the more you think about it, the more sensible it is. As the following article from the BBC websiteย explains, in the days before satellites, it was actually not a bad idea: Summer 1937. What could be more fitting […]
Meeting my niece in London after the meeting yesterday was the thin end of the wedge. Several beers later I arrived home in Reading and then tackled a bottle of wine so, as I write, I have a little bit of a hangover. What follows is a more […]
Following on from the previousย post which refers to academic research in the USA, I have just received this interesting email from Todd Ryghย in Washington State along the same lines. Most people who contact me via this blog have questions about the route or the bike or the equipment […]
Hi George Thanks for your email – your enthusiasm is infectious! I’m glad to be in touch with another person who is interested in the Eurovelo 5. My initial enthusiasm was not the Eurovelo 5, simply an interest in cycling and a wish to do something a bit […]
From: RichardTo: AndrewSubject: Maps Hi Andrew, Hope youโve had a good Christmas. I see youโve been busy on the blog. I’ve started telling people about my plans and am very much committed and excited about the trips. I think I will plan to try meet you in Brussels […]
I’m on the train en route home after Christmas with my family and thought I would use the time to pull the strands of my preparation for my trip to Puglia in the summer together. Let’s kick off with the route. That is more or less in place: […]
Canada, The USA, The UK, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Thailand, Australia, Japan… plus all the others who have been and now gone from the map. Amazing who is interested in this drivel!
My commute home continues to be faster and faster! I’m down to 21 minutes and 30 seconds. Amazing. The journey in the other direction is proving more difficult to improve upon: it hasn’t budged since the 18th August. Anyway, more news from Jean-Marie in Belgium. He’s sent me […]
The following are the key details from the ECF EuroVรฉlo map about EV5 with identified cycle routes in red, linked to sources of information on the net:England (180 km)Reading to London – NCN 4London to Canterbury to Dover – NCN 1Northern France (140 km)CalaisCanal de Calais to Saint […]
I do actually know more about the route of the EuroVรฉlo 5 than I thought: I have just dug out the ECF EuroVรฉlo map itself and on the back is the following route description. “This is another pilgrim route, also called Via Romea Francigena leading from Canterbury to […]
I don’t end to have the time (or energy) to post mid-week in term term but today is an exception as it’s been a busy Puglia 2010 day. Recieved a couple of emails, one from Kevin Payne at CTC who has pointed me in the direction of someone […]
Frustrated in my efforts to find detailed information about the details of the EuroVรฉlo 5 route, I have gone to the top and just sent an email to the European Cyclists’ Federation asking for any updates.Rue Franklin281000 Brussels,Belgiumphone: +32 2 880 92 74fax: +32 2 880 92 75office@ecf.com […]
John Davies, the Audax cyclist from Willsden has emailed back with some more details of the Audax route from Calais to Brindisi. He writes: Attached is an article from the most recent edition of Arrivรฉe, the magazine of Audax UK. It doesn’t really give you much information about […]
The EuroVรฉlo 5 route has a Facebook group… so I joined of course. The other two members are Ian Hendry – the man from Adelaide who I’ve mentioned and quoted from before and a guy called Massimo Mazzone who writes in his opening post:“Let’s improve the route! It’s […]
I got an email from a chap in Brisbane today – he is planning on doing the trip in May 2010. This is what makes the Internet such a fantastic tool! Nice of you to get in contact Jon (if you are reading this). Anybody else out there? […]
It is a strange thing, but being on holiday for six weeks every summer means that you forget the passage of time and struggle to say what day it is. With my blog vote (still four votes), however, I can say that it is 714 days until I […]
